Asheville leaders say they're helpless to stop Sunday rally

9:23 AM,
Aug. 23, 2012

An anti-topless protester uses his jacket to try to cover a woman who bared her breasts at last year's rally at Pack Square.

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City officials' contention that they have no legal way to stop a topless rally planned for this weekend contradicts what other North Carolina cities have done in banning some forms of public nudity.

Raleigh and Wilmington have local ordinances that prohibit women from exposing their breasts in public, laws that could have stopped a topless rally in Asheville a year ago. That event drew dozens of breast-baring women and an even larger crowd of raucous onlookers.

Nearby, Waynesville bans nudity, which includes bared breasts, with a local ordinance, and beach communities, including Surf ...